Skyrocketing Cyberpunk 2077 player counts prove the Netflix boost is real
The RPG has hit highs it hasn’t seen since its troubled launch.
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“Welp, the Cyberpunk 2077 anime made me want to give the game another shot,” said our Wes Fenlonjust this week.He wasn’t alone, as tens of thousands have returned toCD ProjektRed’s 2020 RPG shooter following the release of Studio Trigger’s Cyberpunk Edgerunners anime.
Sites likeSteamDBput Cyberpunk 2077’s peak concurrent player count—on Steam alone—at over 85,000 in the last 24 hours. Those are player numbers it hasn’t seen since January of 2021, with daily highs of something more like 10-15K more normal. Not surprising, given that its launch could be politely termeda disaster.
It’s a sizable boost for a game that claims the highest all-time concurrent player count for a singleplayer game on Steam at 1,054,388. It’s also the data point I needed to say that, combined with a timely sale, the Netflix player bump is very real.
We saw it last December when Arcane caused League of Legends' player count to boost by nearly 50%. Dota 2 saw boosts after the release of Dragon’s Blood seasons 1 and 2. Heck, CD Projekt Red’s own The Witcherbeat its launch day numbersafter the release of its Netflix series.
So, yeah, you could say thatCyberpunk 2077is getting a bit of a second launch at the moment, with numbers that put most gaming debuts to shame. It’s all very clearly orchestrated and marketed, much like a launch as CP2077 just got its1.6 Edgerunner update.
You canget a catin that, which rules. You can alsoget the Edgerunners jacketfrom the Anime.
There are other updates for CP2077 in the future, with the game director saying that its broken police will geta complete overhaul.
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Amid all of this you might be forgiven for not noticing that Keanu Reeves is coming back for a wholeCyberpunk 2077 expansion called Phantom Liberty.Guess heactually wasn’tput off by the sex mods.
I call this a second launch for Cyberpunk 2077, but Fraser Brown thinks that the expansion will be CP2077’s chance at salvation. He says it’ll need to be “beyond polished” because it could well be thelast real shot at salvaging the game’s reputation.
Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he’s not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.
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